The Glass of Time
by chuck3397
Summary: Screams fill the streets of Storybrooke. Blood fills the rivers. Death begins to become a daily thing. A war has started in the furture, but it will take someone from the past to stop it...


The Screams. They played through out the night, through the minds of all the towns people of Storybrooke. But they played through Emma's mind the most, waking her up to cold sweat and torn sheets. It was the cries of people she knew, her mother, father, baby Neal, Hook... and soon Henry. Once she heard his screams ringing through her ears she never went back to sleep.

_Follow the screams. _Was what Gold told her to do.

Once Emma realized that it wasn't just her hearing the cries of terror she knew something was up. Whenever a town problem involved magic, Emma's first instinct was to go to the Dark One. She expected him to brush off her nightmares, to tell her that it was all in her head just so he could get back to running his shop, but instead he gave her instructions. _Follow the screams. _At first Emma wasn't sure what he meant and wondered if this was some kind of game he was playing. She soon cast out those thoughts as she looked deeper into Gold's eyes. Terror. Shock. Pain. Fear. His brown eyes were filled with it which worried Emma even more. There was no doubt that he had heard the screams in his sleep too. If the Dark One was scared, then that meant that the whole town had the right to be terrified.

Emma didn't understand why she was told to follow the screams, for last she checked they could only be heard in ones mind. But she heard something as she was driving through the back roads, in the direction of the town line. It was a cry of pain, of complete agony. The sound echoed through the streets, travelling through Emma's window and into her ears. Her eyes widened and she immediately slammed on the brakes, nearly giving herself whiplash in the process. Emma got out of the car, standing out on the road and staring out at the woods before her, listening for another scream that resembled the ones she heard in her sleep.

Sure enough, another cry echoed throughout the woods. Emma slammed her car door, locked it, and raced into the forest, pulling her gun out from her belt and gripping it in her hands tightly. The screams continued as she moved further into the woods, following the cries just like Gold instructed her to do. Soon she reached the heart of the forest and the cries were at maximum volume, screaming into the sky. She recognized her mother's cries of pain, soon her father's, then Hooks, and sure enough Henry's followed along with countless other screams.

Emma bit down hard on her lip, trying her best not to join in with their cries, to break down when she promised her father that she'd be able to handle this one on her own. Her hold on her gun grew tighter as the screams continued on. What puzzled Emma was that there was no one in the woods. It seemed to be only her under the blanket of green trees.

_So then where are they coming from? _Emma thought as she scanned the woods carefully.

A loud crack echoed throughout the forest, forcing Emma to spin around, her gun raised in defence. But nothing was there, standing where she expected someone to be. All that came was wind, blowing the leaves back into Emma, travelling up into the sky.

"I think you should put that thing away," a voice said. Emma whipped her head back around, pointing her gun at the figure who spoke. Emma blinked, surprised by the sight of the speaker. It was a girl, a young girl, probably only just a teenager, but she was armed. Emma scanned the sword attached to her back, the hilt of it poking out from under her black hood of her jacket and the handle of a knife sticking out of her knee-high boots. The girl was smirking, crossing her arms as she leaned against the tree nonchalantly with her long, blonde braid falling over her shoulder.

"I think I should keep it." Emma muttered, once again eyeing the girl's weapons. "Who are you?"

Emma's words seemed to break the girls smile, forcing her intense blue eyes to suddenly grow sad, "You don't recognize me?"

"No." Emma answered. The girl nodded slowly, pushing herself off of the tree and taking a few strides towards Emma, her smile returning.

"Of course you don't," the girl said. "Not yet, anyway."

"What do you mean 'not yet'?"

"Shhh. It's a secret."

Emma rolled her eyes. She thought the only person she had to deal with who spoke like this was Hook. Of course ever since they started seeing more of each other, that side of him seemed to slip away. He became sweet, honourable... Emma buried these thoughts. Now wasn't the time to be day dreaming of her handsome pirate.

"Are you going to tell me your name, or am I going to have to force it out of you?" Emma demanded.

"My name's Lizzy -"

"No lying." Emma immediately noticed that the girl was as she usually could, but this time any fool would have noticed it. "Tell me the truth."

"I can't do that." The girl replied after a hesitant pause. Emma noticed the fear shimmering in her eyes as she looked around at the forest, searching it as if one of her words could break down one of the tall trees surrounding them.

"Why not?" Emma said, this time her tone rung with less authority and more curiosity.

"Because I'm not from here. I have to be careful what I say or else I might change something."

Emma was reminded of how her and Hook travelled back in time through Zelena's time portal, how they had to tread so very carefully in order for them not to change the course of the future, to rewrite her parents past... her past. Emma studied the girl more closely, staring more deeply into her familiar blue eyes. Emma knew she had seen them before, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

"When you say not from here," Emma started, "you mean from a different world, right?"

"No," the girl said with a small shake of her head. "I was born in Storybrooke."

"I've never seen you before in my life! Not in any of the years I've lived here!"

"I said I was _born_ in Storybrooke," the girl snapped, dropping her humorous demeanour, "I didn't say when."

Emma felt her breath catch in her throat. _This girl, 'Lizzy', is from the future?_

Millions of questions began to pop into Emma's mind, making her feel suddenly light headed.

"I know you're probably confused, but I can explain, I promise. Just please, put the gun away."

Emma did as the girl said, placing the gun back in her belt, but as she reached behind her, she pulled out a pair of handcuffs, slipping them under her sleeve, out of sight from the girl.

"Thank you," 'Lizzy' sighed. "I am telling the truth. I'm from Storybrooke, the future Storybrooke. I can't tell you too much or I'll just put an even greater tear in time -"

"A tear in time?" Emma raised her brows. "That's not possible."

"You and Captain Hook travelled through a time portal almost a year ago," the girl said. "Time portals are impossible to make."

"Well Zelena was able to do it." Emma snapped.

"She did, but she didn't succeed. No one is powerful enough to cast a time spell, not even the Dark One can do it. Sure you were able to go back in time, but did you ever stop to think about the damage it might've had?" 'Lizzy' said. Emma paused, considering her words. "You and Hook travelling back, it put a crack in the glass of time. That crack is dangerous, more dangerous than you or I could even begin to imagine. But it is because of that crack that I was able to come and find you," a small smile tugged at the corner of 'Lizzy's' lips, "Emma Swan."

"So you know who I am," Emma replied. "Now am I allowed to know who you are?"

"You know the answer to that, Emma," 'Lizzy' seemed to trip over her name that time, as if trying so hard not to call her by another title. Emma wondered what that might've been, then another course of those screams sounded through the woods, making her cringe.

"It's coming from my time," 'Lizzy' explained. Emma looked at the girl, noticing the sorrow in her voice, the grief that began to cloud her eyes with tears.

"What are the screams? Are they - are they real?" Emma asked.

'Lizzy' nodded grimly, "There is a war, a terrible war. Many people have died, Emma. Many have suffered. I was sent here to find you, to help you prevent this war from ever starting."

"How do you expect to do that without revealing too much information to me?"

"Something even worse is happening in my time as we speak," 'Lizzy' insisted. "The rules don't matter anymore. There are some things, however, I'll keep to myself... for your sake..."

"My sake?" Emma questioned, then redoubled. "No, nevermind. This is insane! How can I possibly know you're telling the truth."

"Because deep down you know you trust me," 'Lizzy' replied. Emma was taken aback by these words, but in her heart knew them to be true. There was just something about her... something that reminded her of... but it couldn't be... could it?

"Who are you?" Emma asked.

'Lizzy' paused and let out a sigh. She knew that she needed to do whatever it took to make Emma believe her. She also knew that lying to her was useless. She learned that pretty quickly as a child, Emma always knew when she was lying.

"Well?" Emma pressed on, gripping the handcuffs even tighter.

"My name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth Swan," 'Lizzy' replied. "And I'm your daughter."


End file.
